


Wake up and smell the Chuck E. Cheese

by Omness



Category: HLVRAI-Fandom, Half Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware
Genre: Gen, I like referring to hlvrai gman as Mr. Coolatta, Not A Videogame AU, but does anyone else?, headcanon written as a story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:40:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25923766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Omness/pseuds/Omness
Summary: After the fight with Benrey, the Gman explains to Gordon what the Science Team had truly gone through.(A scenario for Not A Game AU that would allow Coomer to keep his 'this isn't reality' arc. Despite this intent, he does not appear)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 31





	Wake up and smell the Chuck E. Cheese

**Author's Note:**

> I'm hoping this makes sense. My beta-reader (bless them for all they do) isn't into hlvrai or half-life and I'm thinking some of their confusion is lack of context. So uh, let me know if you're confused or not please?

Gordon could only watch as Benrey, surrounded by sweet voicing skeletons and crackling green electricity, began to warp and disappear. His body and the electricity began to flash, quickly becoming so bright that Gordon had to look away, white washing over his vision even behind closed eyes.

_It’s time to wake up, Mr. Freeman._

Gordon jolted upright, gasping for breath. He looked around frantically, expecting some kind of attack, but all he saw was the ruined anti-mass spectrometer testing chamber and the mysterious business-suit wearing man crouched down next to him.

“Where-?” Gordon started to ask, but then a splitting pain tore through his head. He shut his eyes tight against the pain, pressing his hands against his head as if to contain what felt like an implosion happening inside his skull.

Wait.

Gordon pulled his hands away from his head, opening his eyes just enough to see and wincing at the light. He had two hands again. His gun arm was gone. “What?” He croaked.

“I took the liberty of removing your… enhancements, as it were.” The man said, “They were… government property after all. Consider the hand… a gift.”

Gordon squinted at the man, trying to form some kind of response, but the headache from hell drowned everything else out.

“Don’t worry about the pain… it will fade.”

Gordon said nothing to that, clenching his teeth and closing his eyes as chaotic thoughts and pain rolled through his head like boulders, making it impossible to focus. After what felt like forever, the pain finally subsided to a throbbing ache. Once he felt like a human again, Gordon looked at the man and began spouting off questions, wildly gesturing with his hands, “Why are we back in the testing chamber? What happened to the others? What about Benrey? Is he gone?”

“Hold,” The man said, raising his hand in a stop motion, “I know you like to… chatter. But I will explain all that you are allowed to know.” The man paused, as if waiting for Gordon to interject, then continued when he didn't, “The past four days Mr. Freeman… happened in your head. When the resonance cascade started, one of the portals opened a dimension into your mind, dragging you and those you refer to as the Science Team in.”

“What, so it really was all just a dream? None of it was real?” Gordon demanded, leaning forward onto his hands.

“Not quite, Mr Freeman. What do you know… of quantum entanglement?”

“Something about a pair of particles that no matter how far apart they are, their physical properties remain correlated? As if they’re one particle?”

The man smirked, “Correct, Mr. Freeman.” He stood up and the world flashed green and they were somewhere Gordon had never seen, on a platform made of alien material and descending into unending depths. Startled, Gordon stood up too, hands waving wildly as he almost overbalanced.

“What happened in your head,” The man tapped his temple with a finger, “was reflected in the real word... and vice versa. Or at least… as much as dreams and reality can reflect each other.”

Gordon shook his head slowly, “I don’t understand, they were the same, but different?”

The world flashed green again and the two of them were now standing in what looked like an Earth desert, a crashed helicopter burning only a few feet away.

The man’s eyebrow quirked slightly, “That is correct. For example, when you defeated the one you refer to as Ben-rey… a being called the Nihilanth was defeated in this reality.”

Gordon pressed his palm to his forehead as what the man was saying slowly sank in, “So, if I experienced the dream end of things, all those strange things my friends could do, it was because of that? And what about Benrey?”

“You are better off… asking your friends yourself.” A third flash and they were in Xen, the fleshy looking ground surrounding them, “As for the entity you call Ben-rey, well, he is on a need to know basis. And you, Mr. Freeman, simply do not need to know.” 

The man glanced at a watch on his wrist, “But listen to me carry on, you have been through quite a lot,” Another flash and bang and they were standing in a Black Mesa tram hurtling through…. Space? With a glowing green portal where the exit would be, “We don’t want to be late for the party. Step through the portal Mr. Freeman, and we can begin.”


End file.
